My mission is to help clients make substantial and lasting performance improvement.
services provided
Robert C Gates Consulting delivers impact. Not only focusing on performance issues and current business challenges, I provide capability building for management teams:
Performance Improvement / Metrics Development
- Safety
- Quality
- Delivery
- Cost
- Profitability
Strategy / Strategy Deployment
- Board Member Assessment
- Executive Staff Assessment
- Strategic Planning
- Policy Deployment / Hoshin Kanri
Leadership/People Development
- Skills Assessment
- Skills Gap Analysis
- Performance Assessment
- Performance Improvement Planning
- Coaching / Mentoring
General Management Consulting
- Due Diligence (acquisitions / divestitures / liquidity options)
- Supply Chain Assessment
- Performance Assessment
- Sales Funnel Assessment
Interim Support
- Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
- Chief Operations Officer (COO)
- Board Member
- Key Executive roles

About us
Robert C Gates is a management consultant with over 25 years of experience leading complex operations, merger integrations, business assessments, due diligence, change management, organizational assessments, executive coaching and mentoring.
Education: BS in Civil Engineering from the Virginia Military Institute; MBA from Boston University.
There are three parts to Robert’s career; serving 6 years in the Army; consulting 6 years at McKinsey & Company; and working 15 years in numerous leadership roles in industry (Newell, Honeywell, Colfax, Boral, and Amazon):
US Army 1989 – 1995: Served 6 years as an Engineer Officer in Heavy Armored Divisions (1 st Armored Division – Nuremberg, Germany; 1 st Cavalry Division – Fort Hood, TX). Deployed with the First Armored Division to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait as part of Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm in 1990-91. Successfully conducted over 600 combat demolition missions. While earning a Master of Science in Business Administration, managed Corps of Engineer construction and service contracts across Germany for US Army facilities valued in excess of $20 Million.
Awarded the Bronze Star Medal for actions in Iraq in 1991.
McKinsey and Company 2004-2010: Led transformational activity in a variety of functions: supply chain logistics, lean manufacturing, maintenance and reliability, production planning and scheduling,
ERP and IT Systems Management, and improving safety performance. Worked in production industries including mining, petrochemicals, pharma chemicals, heavy equipment, automotive, and call center
operations. Led problem solving workshops and programs to identify root cause issues. Assisted clients to develop and implement improvement activity. Provided coaching and capability building for client leaders and their teams.
Industry Experience: Robert led operations in numerous sectors: consumer goods, automotive components, industrial equipment, freight, logistics and ecommerce warehouse management.Robert
held a variety of functional roles: Materials Manager; Director of Materials; Manufacturing Manager; Production Manager; Director of Customer Service; Plant Manager; VP Lean Manufacturing; Chief
Information Officer (CIO); Chief Administrative Officer (CAO); Senior VP Operations, General Manager